JJZFL

Been posting about lack of ball movement for what feels like a very long time. 100% agree.

It was visible to most of us at the trade deadline.

I’m not finding it on Bally in Daytona

You’re right.

Also, we need to figure out some offensive scheme other than get the ball across half court and give it to either Franz or Paulo outside the three point circle, then have everyone else mostly standing and watching as they try to create something. Even with our inconsistent and not great guard play, I would hope we can do better than that.

If we can continue to play the same level of defense and improve offensively; our defense in game 1 was outstanding. Could be some reversion to the mean there also, as Cleveland went something like 8-30 from 3. I hope that’s not the case. That’s why they play the games, I guess.

Gave you an up vote to balance it. I don’t always agree with you but I’m very glad that you’re here and posting. A down vote for your post above doesn’t make any sense to me.

You’re right. I was thinking more about the entire first half rather than the first quarter; mistake on my part. Banchero went two for four in the first half.

We missed four in the first quarter. Paulo missed two of those.

Banchero went 4-8 from the free throw line. Our all-star has to play a lot better in almost every area going forward.

Yep. They’re thinking too hard about every shot they take; well, except for Cole Anthony :)

Very good point. He is great in certain areas but not as a point guard.

Yes, exactly. I’m out of up votes, unfortunately. We’re asking Franz and Paulo to do things they’re not suited for. We need more quickness in our playmakers.

As others have said repeatedly, guard play was the difference today. We need a quick point guard to help break down the defense, and some better more consistent three point shooting. With either one I think we have a solid chance. With neither it’s tough. This was evident to most of us at the trading deadline.

Phenomenal game yesterday, especially after the slow start which could have demoralized them but didn’t. Lots of credit to Mosley for getting them to play with the necessary energy and focus after the first quarter. Definitely one of the top five high points in my long suffering fan relationship with the Magic. Felt great after watching that game.

Don’t look now, but for some reason we’re favored by 6 1/2 points.

Yes I agree with what everyone is saying about our exceeding expectations this season. That being said, a potential playoff run is a terrible thing to waste. There’s never any guarantee you get back there next year. It’s why, if we meekly lose in the first round or don’t even make the playoffs, I’ll consider this an opportunity that was missed. We had a good idea what we needed at the trade deadline, and didn’t do anything to improve.

Disappointing but not surprising. At this point it seems we can only beat bad teams. It is possible that the game Sunday won’t matter for Milwaukee. If that happens they might rest everyone so we get the win.

This could get ugly very quickly

Unfortunately Embiid is playing also. Teams going all out on this one.

JJ Redick wasn’t a great one on one player either but he got more that 3 shots per game. My point is that we need team offense to make everyone better, not give it to Franz/Paulo and have everyone else standing around watching. Adding more shooters to the roster won’t help if we can’t figure out ways to get them decent looks. I appreciate the conversation also. We agree about 99% of the time but it probably makes for more interesting discussion when we don’t. We are 7-8 point underdogs for tonight. It’s hard to see how we win this game the way we’ve been playing lately, but stranger things have certainly happened.

This is one of your rare posts that I disagree with. I pointed out recently how Harris, during one of our losses, despite starting and playing 30 minutes, only got 3 shots the whole game (and hit two of them, both three pointers). Giving the ball to Paulo at the top of the key and hoping he can ISO against all five of the other team is not a winning strategy. Great players make the other players on their teams better, not worse. Our only chance is to play better team basketball and run plays to open players up for shots. The idea that everyone else besides Paulo sucks and therefore he has to have the ball in his hands all the time doesn’t fly from my standpoint. I see it as an excuse to explain bad offensive execution. Add: by the way, when you look at our last three losses, Paulo had the worst +\- of anyone on our team for two of the three (-19, -20). So it’s not exactly like he’s making us way better when he’s out there.

And even worse they were mostly unforced. Passing to someone’s back. Passing to where you thought there was a chance someone might be. Dribbling into traffic. It’s almost like we were trying to turn the ball over.

It really looks like he tenses up in games and tries to guide the ball instead of taking a natural shot.

Truly have no idea at all what to expect tonight. We could win by 20 or get blown out. Or maybe it will be close. Absolutely no idea at all.